Nightfire | The Whispering Wall #1

Fifty Four: Promises

"Yddris."

Jordan stumbled to his feet and had to catch himself on the wall. Sure enough, his tutor stood there in the courtyard, and Darin was behind him, cowering against the wall inside a radius of scorched brick. Jordan swallowed, knowing what had happened immediately, and what could have gone wrong if Yddris had arrived a moment later.

"I left you at the temple, boy," Yddris growled. "What the fuck are you doing out here? Who's he?"

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Darin, who stared at Jordan like he'd grown another head.

"I didn't have a choice," Jordan croaked, throat embarrassingly tight.

Yddris took a step forward, and then paused. Turned on Darin, who flinched. "Name?"

"Darin Blackheart."

"Fuck's sake." Yddris pinched his nose. "Of course you're related."

"They're not," Jordan said, when it looked like Darin would either faint or punch Yddris, neither of which would end well. "He's adoptive. And disowned."

"And that's why that one's clutching a sack of cash bigger than his head, is it?" Yddris snarled. "A factory job won't make you that in five years, boy."

"My mother will die if we are evicted," Darin snapped. He shook off some of his stupor. "I don't earn enough to keep the house. Beyond that, he has nothing to do with us, nor do we have anything to do with him. If you're going to get me arrested, make sure she gets to the Medica." His voice broke. "And I hope whatever stopped Arlen from coming himself kills him."

He stalked forward, dropped the sack of money at Yddris's feet, and walked off, picking his way through the charred corpses of four wights and disappearing around the corner.

Yddris didn't move.

"Are you going to get him arrested?" Jordan asked. Guilt gnawed at his insides; it was Arlen's fault Darin was involved, but Jordan had brought Yddris here, whether he'd meant to or not.

"No." Yddris inhaled sharply. "What else did he want from you?"

"Mary-Beth."

"Oh, night take me. I didn't think he was into anything that hard." He paused. "But it would explain a lot."

Jordan looked over his shoulder. He didn't know where Usk was or how far he'd gone, whether he was listening now. He felt trapped as much as he felt relieved; everything would have been so much simpler if Yddris hadn't followed him.

He reminded himself firmly that if Yddris hadn't followed him he could have killed Darin, and his stomach lurched.

"He scarpered when he saw me coming," Yddris muttered, leaning down to pick up the sack at his feet. "I gave him good reason not to bother me again last time we met." He weighed the sack in his hands and then fixed Jordan with a look. "You agreed to this?"

Jordan swallowed, shame heating his face. "He threatened Grace."

"There is no way in all the circles of the Pit that anyone else knows about that." The Unspoken nodded in the direction Darin had gone. "Siphoning money from jobs to pay rent for a candle factory worker? His employer would have his bollocks if he knew, and his employer is the one with agents in the castle, not him."

Jordan's face burned now. "You can't expect me to know this stuff. And he could decide to do it himself."

"Not while his employer is using her to bait you already. It'd be more than his life was worth." Yddris sounded sad, and almost disappointed. It was hard to bear.